


4 Times Dylan Was A Hero, And One Time He Wasn’t

by love_write_edit_sleep



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: 4+1, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Canonical Character Death, Car Accidents, Character Death, Dangerous Card Throwing, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Drowning, Dylan Rhodes is a dad, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Hypnotism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Merritt Can’t Throw For Shit, Near Death Experiences, Parent Dylan, Past Child Abuse, Protective Dylan, mostly angst, rated mature to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-06 01:13:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21218105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_write_edit_sleep/pseuds/love_write_edit_sleep
Summary: Dylan Shrike isn’t sure how he ended up with 4 overgrown children, but he wouldn’t change it for the world. He would, however, change how often he has to save them, often from each other.In other words, being a Hero wasn’t in his job description, but it seems to be in his Paternal Terms and Conditions.(Originally 4 Times Dylan Had ‘Dad Reflexes’, And 1 Time He Wasn’t Fast Enough)





	1. Daniel

**Author's Note:**

> My first NYSM fic, I loved he movie so much. Sorry it’s not brilliantly written. I’ve been tired.  
-  
Dylan saves Daniel from a card...

_ “Have I taught you nothing in the past year?” _

_ “I just don’t have your knack.” _

“What knack?” Dylan asked as he entered the room to see Jack and Merritt standing behind a splattering of playing cards on the ground. “Ah.”

“He’s hopeless.” Jack crossed his arms smugly. Lula giggled from the couch.

“Um, I think you’re forgetting who got that chip past all that security.”

“I thought we were screwed when I realised Merritt had the card.” Daniel thought aloud from the table, gaining murmurs of agreement and a hearty chuckle from Dylan. Merritt rolled his eyes.

“I’d hit you with a card if I could.”

“You can’t.” Daniel spoke as though he were reminding Merritt of a fact. Merritt smirked, picking a card from his deck and throwing it at Daniel, expecting it to flutter to the floor as usual. However, it glided through the air with speed and precision.

Dylan was a blur as he quickly moved to block the card with his hand, earning a surprised yelp from Daniel and a pained cry from Dylan as the card sliced his palm. Daniel stood frozen, his hand pressed to his chest, as though it would calm him down.

“Shit!” Merritt cried, dropping his deck and rushing over to Dylan. “I didn’t think that would even-“

“It’s fine, Merritt.” Dylan gave the man a reassuring smile, gripping his bleeding palm with his good hand. “You alright, Danny?”

“Merritt, you nearly killed me!” Daniel growled at the Mentalist, taking Dylan’s hand and leading him over to the sink. Dylan watched the Showman turn the tap on as he fussed over him, only stopping to wince at the blood mixing with the running water.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Dylan tried to reassure him. “It’s not like I haven’t dealt with flying cards before.” He glanced over at Jack with a smirk, who held his hands up in surrender.

“My bad. How was I to know you were our leader?”

Daniel chuckled despite himself, likely a chuckle of relief rather than an admission to finding Jack even the slightest bit amusing. Dylan allowed his own chuckle to escape his throat, grateful that he was half-shoved into the sink, and not in the car on his way to the hospital with Daniel.


	2. Merritt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dylan saves Merritt from getting arrested or something...

Dylan wasn’t entirely sure what happened, it happened far too quickly, but all he knew was that Jack looked terrified of the large tattooed man who had stopped in the street in front of them. Dylan abandoned the others, moving to Jack’s side and whispering ‘Why don’t you go ahead to the park with the others? I’ll meet you there.’, to which Jack nodded, leaving as fast as he could. Daniel and Lula followed Jack, sharing concerned glances, while Merritt stayed with Dylan, his eyes ablaze with a fire Dylan had never seen in the man before.

“So.. you’re the one burdened with Jackie?”

“We’re not burdened with anyone.” Dylan spat, already disliking this man.

“You will be. Always whining and crying like a little bitch. Just like his junkie Mother. We were glad to be rid of him.”

The pieces fell into place. Jack’s step-dad… The one that had introduced Jack’s Mother to drugs she now felt she couldn’t live without, drugs that she chose over Jack when offered the choice; Drugs or Jack?

The reason Jack had been homeless for so long.

“You asshole!” Merritt screamed, diving forward to, Dylan assumed, deck the man and beat him to death. He knew he wanted to do the same thing. He barely managed to grab the back of Merritt’s jacket and tug him back.

“Merritt, Merritt, stop! He’s not worth it!” Dylan cried, hooking Merritt under the arms with his elbows and holding him back.

“I’ll fucking kill him!”

“And then what?! Get arrested?! Go to jail?! He’s scum, Merritt! He’s not worth it!”

“But Jack-!”

“-needs you more than he needs revenge!” Dylan cried. “I agree, he’s an asshole! I wanna kill him too! But do what this asshole never did and think about Jack!” Merritt stopped kicking and screaming, slumping in Dylan’s hold as he glared at the man in front of him. After a moment, Merritt stood, brushing Dylan off.

“You’re missing out big time, anyone would be honoured to be Jack’s family!” Merritt scowled before turning to Dylan. “You could say we hit the  _ Jack _ -pot.”

“Merritt…”

“What? That was a good one, admit it.”

“Let’s go…”

“One sec.” Merritt held up a hand, approaching the man and slapping his chest before muttering “And… Sleep!” The man slumped in Merritt’s arms. “From now on, if you ever see Jack, you’re going to pull down your pants and cluck like a chicken. Alcohol will taste like piss, and when-  _ if _ you get laid, you will ‘whine and cry like a little bitch’. Anything else, Dylan?” Merritt turned to Dylan, who sighed but made his way over, leaning into the man’s ear.

“When Jack’s mother is no longer dependent on you, you will take yourself to the nearest police station and you will confess everything you ever did to her, Jack, and everyone else you hurt.”

“And… Wake!”

By the time the man had woken, Dylan and Merritt were out of sight.


	3. Lula

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dylan saves Lula from a spiked drink...

It was lucky that Dylan was even there, in all honesty. 

Lula and Merritt had wanted to spend the night out, and had dragged Dylan with them, claiming he ‘needed some action’. Dylan deciding chasing after 4 adult children everyday was enough action, thank you very much, and so sat to the side of the nightclub, sipping at an orange juice and texting Alma about some of the Horsemen’s funnier stories.

Lula sat at the bar with two lesbians she had befriended, and was likely bombarding with questions about same sex relationships. Lula was very open about the fact that she had no clue what gender she liked, and decided not to label it until she tried a bit of both worlds.

Merritt had left the bar a while ago to dance with a very pretty girl. She was way out of his league, Dylan thought as he watched them, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. Perhaps she was one of those girls that liked older men.

Dylan had just finished his juice when he heard a smash from where Lula was. He turned in panic, but sighed in relief to see Lula sitting at the bar still, though her glass was on the floor and her skirt was wet. A handsome man was apologising to her, and, from what Dylan could make out, was offering to buy her another.

As Lula went to clean up in the toilets with the help of the two girls, the man waited for her replacement drink. Dylan turned to make sure Merritt was alright before turning back to look at the man. The man had Lula’s drink, but was leaning over it, looking around suspiciously before pouring a small packet into the drink. As Lula returned, Dylan stood.

“Here you ar-”

Dylan smacked the glass out the man’s hand, not even flinching at the shattering of glass. Lula gawped.

“What the hell, man?!” The man moved to shove Dylan, only for Dylan to punch him.

“Do you drug all the girls you take a fancy to?” Dylan asked, flashing his police badge as the man turned back to him, blood dripping from his nose. The badge wouldn’t have mattered, not now he wasn’t a cop anymore, but this guy didn’t seem to know that, judging from the way the blood drained from his face. Lula gripped Dylan’s jacket.

“She ain’t worth my time anyway.”

Dylan punched him again, knocking him to the floor and grabbing him by the jacket, hauling him upright.

“No-one on this Earth is good enough for her, and anyone who treats her as anything less than a queen has to deal with me. You got that?” Dylan growled. The man nodded, waiting until Dylan let go of his jacket before scrambling away.

“Are you alright?” Dylan asked, immediately wrapping an arm around Lula’s shoulders. Lula nodded in shock, earning a slight squeeze from Dylan, who smiled at her before pulling away and muttering “Let’s get Merritt and outta here.” Lula blinked, still trying to process what had just happened. Had Dylan really said that about her? Was that really what he thought?

“You know what, never mind, let’s leave Merritt here…” Dylan grumbled, walking away. Lula glanced over at Merritt, regretting it when she found him lip-locked with the girl from earlier, before moving to follow Dylan.


	4. Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dylan saves Jack from a car...

“Why do you have to come with me?”

“Because Merritt’s the only one home right now and I’m not going to sit around and let him try and hypnotise me again. He’s determined.” Dylan grumbled as he and Jack walked down the road. “Am I not allowed to spend time with my current favourite child?”

“Oh yeah?” Jack smirked. Dylan shrugged.

“Daniel drank all the coffee this morning, Merritt- well, you know, and Lula pickpocketed me again to buy an $80 skirt. The worst you’ve done is make me buy a new toaster after one of your cards landed in the other one and caught fire.”

“And… that’s  _ better _ that Daniel drinking all the coffee?” Jack laughed.

“You don’t mess with a man’s coffee, coffee is the only thing that stands between me and a murder spree.”

“The law doesn’t stand between you and murder?”

“No? Have you seen a prison cell here? It’s like a hotel but free. You get wi-fi, Jack. Wi-fi. ‘Sure, you can’t reintegrate with society yet, but here’s the internet’.” Jack almost doubled over with laughter at Dylan’s passive-aggressive ranting. Dylan opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a screech from behind him. 

Dylan grabbed Jack by the back of his jacket on an instinct and pulled him back roughly, pulling the boy close to shield him as a smash too close to them rang in their ears. Dylan pulled away, turning to look behind him as Jack looked over his shoulder at the silver that had just crashed into a shop window where they’d been standing moments before.

“Are you okay?” Dylan asked, turning to Jack, who stood frozen in shock. “Jack! Are you okay?!” He cried as he scanned Jack over. Jack snapped out of it, nodding.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Holy shit…”

“Stay here…” Dylan whispered, patting Jack’s shoulder before running around the car to help the driver.


	5. Daniel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dylan fails to save Daniel...

_ Dylan should have seen them. _

“Bring the small one up here!”

“Let him go!” Dylan cried, struggling against the hold of two large men as two other men dragged Daniel across the stage of the empty stadium towards the water tank, the one Henley had used in her escaping act.

_ He should have heard them behind him, how could he have been so careless? _

“Dylan?!” Daniel sounded panicked, also fighting against the men, but it was no use. They dragged up the stairs to the open trapdoor above the tank.

“Drop him.”

“No!”

_ Dylan had let his guard down, on the anniversary of Lionel Shrikes death. Daniel had asked to accompany Dylan to Lionel’s tree to pay his respects. _

_ Dylan should have said no. _

“Dyl-!” Daniel’s voice cut off as he was submerged in the water, the trapdoor sliding shut after him.

“Don’t! Don’t do this!” Dylan begged, though he knew it was futile.

“I suppose I should let you try and save him…” Mabry smirked from atop the tank, his two men blocking the stairs. The other two men let Dylan go.

_ They talked about Lionel as the sun set behind the tree, both so distracted by emotions of pain and grief and inspiration and determination that they didn’t see the strobe light flashing on the glass the card was encased in, the light that flashed the word ‘sleep’ in the glass. _

_ They both dropped to the floor. _

Daniel was pounding on the glass by now, on the trap door, trying to get it to open, trying to smash the glass. Dylan tried to climb up the stairs, up the walls of the box, tries to get on top, but each time, he was kicked down, as though he were just a dog jumping on the furniture. He settled on pounding on the glass with his fists, hoping pure adrenaline was enough to break the glass, but of course it wasn’t.

Dylan’s heart skipped a beat when Daniel suddenly choked, taking a deep inhale of water, starting the inevitable process Mabry had planned since escaping prison. 

Then Daniel gave up.

He pressed his hand to the glass, gulps of water kicking bubbles of air out of Daniel’s lungs and past his lips. Dylan slammed his hand over Daniel’s, furious with himself, with Mabry, as tears stream down his face.

He hadn’t cried since his Dad died.

Suddenly, Daniel was spasming in the water, gasping for air that isn’t there. Dylan screamed, pounding on the glass, not that the man can hear him. He was too young, he was his kid, his successor. This wasn’t supposed to happen! Not to Daniel. 

It should have been Dylan.

It almost was, but had Daniel saved him.

Daniel’s body stilled as Dylan’s dropped to the ground, a sob of anguish tearing from his throat as Mabry laughed.

It should have been him.

_ “Oh, it will be, once you’ve watched all the horsemen die. This is just the start of the show.” _


End file.
